You’ve seen the posts, right?
“I quit my job and made $10K in my first month!”
“Built an app solo in 2 weeks and sold it for $100K!”
“Now I’m sipping coconuts by the beach while my SaaS money does yoga in the bank!”
Yeah… about that.
You know what I hate about these stories? They’re like movie trailers — all the hype, none of the plot holes.
Here’s my real behind-the-scenes reel (no filters, no coconut props):
The hidden struggle:
Year 1: Full-time job + built 5 products. Nearly lost my sanity, gained dark circles.
Year 2: Full-time job + built 10 more products. Already fluent in caffeine.
I wasn’t “solo.” I was half-zombie, half-human trying to code dreams into reality.
9–5: Job.
8 PM–2 AM: Products.
Weekends: “Rest”? Nope. Products.
Vacations: Thinking about products.
Social life: Does talking to GitHub count?
Why this myth drives me nuts:
It hides the real effort.
Everyone shows you the exciting launch day; nobody talks about the “why-is-this-API-hating-me” nights before it.
It makes you feel behind.
You see success stories and wonder, “Am I broken?” (No, you’re just not lying online.)
It sells a fantasy.
“Earn while you sleep!” Yeah, after a few thousand sleepless nights.
It attracts the wrong crowd.
People expect shortcuts, then rage-quit when success doesn’t arrive with express shipping.
It downplays the cost.
Health. Relationships. Stability. Mental peace. Turns out they don’t grow on YouTube ads.
My honest version:
Yes, I built things solo.
But I also:
Work a 9–5 job.
Said goodbye to weekends and hello to burnout.
Failed 15 times before anything worked.
Still learning, still tweaking, still not on a beach.
Was it worth it? For me, yes.
Was it easy? Absolutely not.
It was messy. Lonely. Sometimes soul-crushing. But it was mine.
The real lesson:
If you’re chasing the solopreneur dream, know the full story.
Not the Instagram version.
The real one — late nights, failed launches, silent wins.
If that fires you up, welcome to the chaos.
If it sounds like torture, that’s cool too — peace is underrated.
So, which story do you want? The polished fairytale or the honest one with sweat stains?
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